The Sweden international joins the north London club until the end of the season in a move that has surprised many people.

However, Gunners head coach Arsene Wenger was forced to turn his attentions towards the 31-year-old after missing out on his first-choice target Julian Draxler, with the Germany international’s club Schalke 04 unwilling to lower their original £34m asking price for the coveted midfielder.

And that late setback meant that the French trainer had to instead switch his focus elsewhere, with the north Londoners having just managed to complete the six-month loan move for Kallstrom before the January transfer window closed at 11pm on Friday.

The Swede, who also passed his medical at Arsenal’s London Colney training ground on Friday afternoon before discussing personal terms with the Premier League giants, could even now feature for his new team in their Premier League encounter with struggling Crystal Palace at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

And that will come as a huge relief to Wenger, whose side will go into that top-flight contest with the Eagles without a number of key individuals.